The present invention relates to a temperature radiator having a high specific radiation power, in particular for use in miniaturized optical systems.
For a number of optical instruments, such as spectrometers, new fields of application would be opened up if the instruments can be made considerably smaller. For this purpose, optical components, such as temperature radiators, which are used in absorption spectrometers, must be made smaller. Temperature radiators are panel radiators, i.e. a reduction of the dimensions of the radiator results in a considerable reduction of the radiation power with ad-verse effects on the characteristics of the optical instrument. In the case of an absorption spectrometer, the reduced radiation power would affect the resolution and the sensitivity of the spectrometer. An increase in the specific radiation power of the temperature radiator is a possible way to meet the adverse effects of the reduction in size. It is known that the specific radiation power of a temperature radiator can be increased by raising the temperature of the radiator; this has however the drawback that an increased temperature results in higher energy losses of the radiator due to heat conduction. In particular in small optical systems the energy input by heat conduction into the environment of the temperature radiator poses a problem. In the known miniaturized temperature radiators an electrical resistance heating is used, which is however disadvantageous in that electrical conductors are good heat conductors rendering thermal insulation difficult.